’ . 

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

nimble 0:P. Lool&art,&alma 

ord of Insulwloe ColmleslQnem 

still, Texar 

3r sir: 

and aooiaent 

please crdviae me vhether ouch an 

an inaurunoe oontraat~' 

The exoe~ts frois the contract rsfemed to end vhlab 

enclose ere es Pollws: 

"ARTICTB XI 

"(Aooident aud Sialmese Benefita) 

YSeotlon 1. Effective a8 of tho date of this 

agreement nn employee who haa thereafter oompleted 
F’ 

I1 H0h 0. P. Lockhart, Page 2 

sFt months 0r oontlnuous~ aomioe shall be l ntttlad 

to nlok leave benefit8 in aooordanoe tith the follovlng tsoheduler 

upon Colsplotlon of contl.nuoua 

Smvioe ofr Rariioum Benefits AUwed~ 

9l.x months to three yedira 

Three yeax.93 

Four years 

Five years 

six yearn 

Seven years 

Eight yews 

Nine year5 

Ten yorws or mars 

Four veoka 

Five veoktsix voeks 

Seven vooka 

Eight veeks 

Iiine voeks 

'Ten veaks 

Eleven woaka 

Twelve vaeks 

"Yection 2. Exoeptlon?J: 

(a) An etiployeo shall not be ehtltled to aiak leave 

benefits under this Article if his Illnes? QF injury 

ven due tor 

(1) zotg;ful intention to injure hlmaalf or 

2 Venereal dlaeaso 

3 Intoxication 

II 

4 Uae of habit fomlng drugs 0 

5 Mllloonduot 

(b) An aqloyoe shall not be entitled to sick leave 

benefit8 under this Artlole ?f an Ill~as or aooldent 

ooow?s vhiler 

1 The employee 1s on leave of ebeenoe 

II 

2 The employee la abaett due to 8 lap.orr 

3 AA employee 18 on a suepension 

"ARTICLE XI 

"gec~~ou ycciaent and S3?ikness Benefits) 

Computation of Benefits 8 

The omount’of weekly sick leave benefit shall 

be oomputed by multlplylng the enployoe'er eatabllshed straight time hourly rate of pay time8 tha 

number of hours in the employcots established work 

week. Fraotlons of the work vo8k shall be coq@utod 

on the basis that the nunbor of days of siok leave 
Hon. 0. P. Lockhart, Page 3 

benefit be&s to the number of days In the employeo'r 

established work veek times the amount determined 

above. Slak leave benefits shall be paid in occotd* 

anoe with the established pay periods. 

*Seation 4. Rvery eligible employoo vho 1s 

absent from duty on aooount of sickness or injury 

shall immediately notify the Industrial Relation3 

Department, and the employee ulli not reoaive benefits as,provldedln this plan for the the lost previous to suoh notioe. 

"Section 5. Llmltation3 

(a) par the first three 3ohoduled wo;rkir;j days 

after proper notice has been given Ln aoccdsnos 

vtlth Section 4 of' thts Artlole, there shall be no 

sick benefit gold unless the olckne3s extends Lnto 

the fourth scheduled working day, in vhich aose peyment shall !.nclude the first three scheduled vorklng 

days. 

(b) Ao employee vi11 be entitled to benefits during 

any annivervary year greater th3n the total number 

of week3 ahovn by the schedule in Section I. Unused 

benefit3 during any annlveroary year m2y not be oarried over from one year to another. 

(c) If an employee entitled to benefit3 ~23 provided 

in this Article is abecnt 83 a result. of an occupational llln83s or un lndustriol accident 011 the sick 

benefit provLslon3 in thla artiole vlil opply. Provided, hovever, t&it the Company shall be credited 

with the coqmsstion insurance paymnt to nn employee 

subject to this Artiole in diach3rging the Comp&iny~o 

obligation to on employee under this Article. 

(d) If 3ny law La orm!cted that piovlde3 for any 

or a11 of the benefits covered by this Article, then 

the Compn~- shall be credited, with tile amsuzt of such 

benefLt,s in discharging the Compoxiy'3 obiQ:&tiw to 

an czployea a3 provldcd for Ln thi.3 11r~iclc. 

__--. --. 
:' gan. 0.~ P. LOOldmrt, Page 4 

: 

!. “seaticm 6. RoooMa 

*~a the agpllaation of thl8 Article, the rwavds 

of'the Cf2zago4 ahall be OcuaclUslve in UetenaL~ the 

ecrpl~yeo*s l,eqth of servloe, aalory# wages and amomt 

or benefita to whloh he lo entitled. 

=900t1on 7. Caaoolletl~ of BezU5ritrr 

%n 6t~loyes shell lose all btumfita 

by t&la Artlole for the follovlng cesByozuiB 

provided 

ReJlpp 

Dlsohar@d for 08~86 

Acae 

P 

t4 other emgloymmt during a leave of 

except aa expreasPf apprcwed by the Compeny). 

overetdys his leave of abeonco 

Absent ulthout 18nYe for three oomeautlm work- 

(?j %%qj beCA bl~id Off OKid hsY~hexsf3fter beOA 

oftered en@ognent by the Compmy d ot13 or by notioe 

to the mloa, and he does not vithLn five (5) vorld~g 

days thereafter give notloe of eooeptance of such imploymnt, mid WithiA enotber five (5) worldAg daya 

after giving such notice faila to appear a$ the Plent 

reedy far vorlc. 

(g) Is laid off for orae hundred elghty~ (180) oelerrdm 

Ia off duty for one oalmdar year or more due to 

AOA-OOOU~tlonnl Ok&W5a oF tAjW.'y. 

"Seotlon a. It ln.~agreed tlmt my abuse oi this 

Artlole by an ezuploywe eh011 mclJn his InaPeclleto dlbohfwge. 

“Seation 9.- An employae h¬ collect the bwnefits of this Article end the bemf~to of nrtlcle IX 

et the ama time. 

"Seotion 10. Ati employee who lo Ez~Jumd in the 

refinery and is sent home bemuse of such inju.~y shnll 

receive pay ot hla regular hourly rstr~ for t!m trolonce 

OS the ezployew's soheduled vor&&~;~, on vhlch the lnjury ocourr(b3.” 

Article 4716 of \ielFAOA'E ~nnotete!~ Rovlaed C$vLl Stetuteo 

is in part 61s follows: 
HOL 0. P. Lookhart, Page 5 

I An aooldent lnsurm-~os ocmpmy shell 

. be deeAd &be 6 oorparatlon doing business under 

eny charter involving& the payment of money ox other 

thing of value, oaadltioned upon the lnjuxy, disablement or death of persons resulting from traveling OF 

general aooidents by lend or vater,~ A health insuranoe oompany shall be 'deemed to be a oorporetion 

doing business under any oharter inyolvi.ng the payI 

Pent oi any amount of money oa? other thing of value, 

oondltloned u on loss by reason of dfsabilitp due to 

slokness or 1 P l-health. . . ." 

The word ~"lnsuranoe" is deflnwd In 24 Tex. Jurls,; 

P. 650, as follows t 

“~Insuranoe* is a vord of comprehensive end 

varied meaning. In .a general sense, the tmm slgnlfies an iigreement, for a oonsideratlor., to pay a 

SLIOI OS money upon the hnpponlng of’ a pertiouler event 

or oontingency, or lnchdfying for loss In respect 

of a spealfled subjeot by speoifiwd perils; in other 

vords, an undertaking by one party, ,uauollr aalled 

the Insurer, to proteot the other party, generally 

designated as the insured or the essured, from loss 

arising from named risks, for the oonslderetlon and 

upon the terms and under the oonditlms reoited." 

The vord "lnsuranos" is defined in 32 Corpus Juris., 

P. 975, as follOwa: 

%madly d8fined, insuranoe is B oontraot by 

vhloh one party, for a ooapensatlon called the premium, assumes partioular risks of the other party 

and promises to pay to him or l& nomlnoe a certain ~~.. 

or escerteinsble sum of money on a spooified oontlngenoy. As. regerds property and litibllftg insurance, it la e oontraot by whioh one party promises 

on a consideration to compensate or relmburee the 

other If he shal.1 suffer loss from a npeoified 

bause, or to guarantee or indert@fy or 'secure him 

against loss from that muse. With some ?%$;pElgr, 

partloulsrlg Is a contraot of indemnity. 

insumnoe denotes also the act of'inaurlng by the 

oontraot here, d.ofined, as veil 8s the system of 

business of HNch such oontraots are the chnmotoriatic and vital Oloment.n 

. . 

Hon. 0. P. Lockhart, Page 7 

"In one form or another the practice In 

hosry,wlth age. The fermer knows that the promiso 

to hls.hlred nan of gultting early and the loon of 

a horse and buggy for the evening off rill produae 

e big deyis work long before the early quitting 

tine. The teacher knows that the prospect of Q 

half holiday, if there are no ca8es of tardiness, 

vi11 insure the early arrival et sahool of every 

pupil, upon pain of the displeasure of his fsllov 

students. So It is In industry. An expeoted bqnua 

based upon results tends to discourage and expose 

employees vho are lncllned to be lazy, thoughtless, 

inefficient, and vasteful. Experience has demonstrated that the psyment of a bonus vorka to the 

benefit of employer and employee alike and, within 

reasonable bounds, is advantageous to stoc~oldera 

of corporations emploglng labor. Courts hove reoognlzed this kid have given their sinction to the 

practloe. . .' 

39 Corpus Jurirr.', Sec. 192, pp. 143-144, lays down 

the follovlng rulesi 

"The right of an e.zrployee to compeasetlon 

rests In genera1 upon the performance of services, 

under an agreement, express or implied, that oompensatlon shall be had therofoll, elthough there 

need be no definite agreement as to the &mount 

agreement 83 to compensation, it3 terns control." 

(emphasis add,ed) ,,' 

And Sectlsn 196, pages 147-148 thereof is in part 

33 follous: 

"An employee is not entitled to recover for 

lost time where there 1s no agreement to that effect, or where the contract of employment allow 

compensatin only for the days the employee works. 

Where the employee is given 8 vacation with pay, 

or s leave of nbaeti@ls granted, . . . the employee 

is entitled to his vages for the time off." 
I 

xoa. o. P. Lookhart, Page 8 

In the case of Missiwrl, K. & T. Ry~i co. of Texas 

v. Bryant, 1.78 3. W. 685, vrlt refused, the Court had ursle~ 

oonslderation the right of an assistant general mana 

ralluny-ocmpony to reoover the balance of salary ala f 

or of the 

med to be 

due for time spent on leave of absunoo due to slokness. In effirming judgment therefor, the Court of Civil Appeals h&Q that, 

since the ebsenae was outhorited and granted In good faith by 

an officer vho had authority so to do, and the authori&aticm of 

said leeve having expressly provided that suoh ralary should be 

dravn du%la the period of leave, the WiSiStSKLt 8SlNl'Ed IllSIlSgeP 

was entitled to psy for the time oovared by such leave of absence. 

Under the rules of law above referred to, the question 

of pay during time off duty by reason of sickness or aooldent 

under the terms and aondltions expressed in the exoerpts set out 

would, in our opinion, not be a nattar of lnowams, suoh excerpts 

showing no more than an agreement to pay extxa compensation for 

oontlnuous services. It is our cplnlon, therefore, that your 

question should be answered in the necntive. 

Trustins that this sntlsfnotorlly onsners gou3? inquiry, 

we remaln 

‘is; Yoyx vcxy truly 

ATTORNEY GENXRAL OF TEXAS 

BY 

Asaistsnt